


And All is Wasted on the Land

by ExtraPenguin



Category: Original Work, Running to the Sea - Röyksopp (Song)
Genre: Apocalypse, Fantasy, Gen, merfolk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 09:18:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14829564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtraPenguin/pseuds/ExtraPenguin
Summary: The first chance she gets, she renounces the Pact and visits the land.





	And All is Wasted on the Land

**Author's Note:**

  * For [psychomachia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychomachia/gifts).



> [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8XCUbGAILo)   
>  [lyrics](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/royksopp/runningtothesea.html)

The first question she’d asked was “And what about outside the Sea?” All seafolk were told that they lived in the Sea, and how good it was here. Most children asked more questions about the Sea. She had extrapolated that if there was a here, there must be a there as well.

She grew, slowly like all seafolk, until she was on the cusp of adulthood. She was curious, so when presented with information, she learned it. Thus she knew of the Pact.

Long ago, their ancestors had made a pact with the Sea. Gills, webbing, fins, resistance to pressure, all were given in exchange for a promise to stay. Others were happy with the arrangement, but she was consumed by wanderlust. She researched and researched the details and conditions of the Pact until she found a way to get out of it.

On the shallow shores of the ocean, she renounced the Pact.

 

She lived on land for a bit. It was interesting, even if all the humans seemed to be on edge. Then again, even the seafolk were on edge when a conflict was imminent. Perhaps the humans would soon sort out things with fists and then gradually return to calmness.

She often walked in a riverside park in a city near the sea. She wondered if any of her kin would try to track her down and visit the little river to try and chat with her.

Then again, they couldn’t breathe air, and she couldn’t breathe water. They couldn’t speak to each other.

 

One day, the inland sky had been painted an opaque grey and the air shuddered and shivered. She turned on the radio, that intriguing little contraption of far-talk, and listened to reports she barely understood.

 _Goodbye; it’s been nice to know you all_ , they said.

The speaker told of things she hadn’t heard of and didn’t know, forest fires and nukes and a volcanic eruption, all incoming or nearby. She didn’t quite understand the panic about the volcano; the lava soon solidified, forming interesting pillow-shapes to play with after a while. Perhaps it would be affected by the other things?

She walked out in the park. All the humans were in a mad panic, running around like mindlessly schooling fish, getting into their cars and driving off with herds of other humans chasing after them. 

Eventually, the crowds left. She sat on a bench. It was curious, the empty city.

The sky in the landwards direction grew darker and more flecked.

A whistling noise, then a thud, and the ground shuddered. She turned her head and got up, and was knocked off her feet by a shockwave in the air.

She had been born a seafolk. Old habits were hard to break. She dove into the river.

It was hard to swim without fins, but she managed. She remembered she had to breathe air, now, and fought her way first to the surface and then to the riverbank. The river flowed fast, and she was almost at the ocean shore. She stood up and looked around her.

In every direction where human habitation had stood, only ash stood above the ruins.

 

She had researched and researched the details and conditions of the Pact. She ran to the sea. She had legs that she let give way under her.

 _Please_ , she said.

The Sea reached out to her. The Pact touched her once more, fused together her legs and gave her gills and webbing and fins. _This time, you must stay_.

 _I will_. Outside the Sea, there was nothing left.

She swam on the surface, observing the human cities for as long as they were in sight. When they were but distant specks on the horizon and the dustclouds from the firestorms and destruction turned a hazy blue, she turned downwards and sank. She’d be back home on the ocean floor, soon. From all sides, the Sea embraced her.


End file.
